Now earlier this month, you might remember that I wrote about Redemption and Ruin’s first single, a slowed-down, twangy, Johnny Cash, Sun Records-era-leaning cover of one of my favorite Muddy Waters tunes “Champagne and Reefer” that retained the original’s wicked sense of humor and gleeful debauchery. The album’s second single is a cover of bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley’s classic and oft-covered “I Am The Man Thomas,” and as Bernhard told the folks at Relix, “‘I Am The Man’ is a gruesome tale of the capture and crucifixion of Jesus sung by none other than the late great Ralph Stanley. It may be the most metal Gospel song ever penned by mortal hand. What better song to include on Redemption And Ruin, This tune has it all, the chase the death and the rise from the grave.” The Devil Makes Three cover is a subtly and deceptively straightforward cover that puts a bit of snarl and muscle into it — while with a deeper emphasis on the gruesomeness and cruelty of the cruxifixction and Jesus’ eventual redemption.
Category: folk
Led by frontwoman and principle songwriter Luz Elena Mendoza, Portland, OR-based alt folk/folk rock/indie rock act Y La Bamba, the critically applauded act can trace its origins to early 2008 when Mendoza wanted to perform under something else other than her name, and began writing and making home recordings of her songs on a one-by-one basis largely drawing from the traditional Mexican folk songs she heard as a child growing up in San Francisco and playing with her cousins in the San Joaquin Valley, the work of Loch Lomond and Devendra Banhardt and others. Around the time she had begun writing her own material, Mendoza had begun regularly hosting an open mic at a sake bar in Northeast Portland, where she met the members of the band’s original line up — Ben Meyercord, Mike Kitson (drums), Sean Flinn (guitar) and Eric Shrapel (accordion).
Over the course of the band’s three albums and several lineup changes of collaborators, friends and musicians, the band’s material has gone through a variety of changes — but it’s the the band’s forth full-length effort Ojos Del Sol that may be arguably be the most radical turn in sonic direction, while returning to familiar themes of searching and personal discovery — themes that have come up a number of times in Mendoza’s own life, whether as the daughter of Mexican immigrants connecting with her ancestry and searching for spiritual meaning that goes much further than organized religion. In fact, as Mendoza explains in press notes, the material on the album thematically is a “cerebration of family and community” — but a community of shared humanity.
Interestingly, the album’s first single “Libre” finds Mendoza and company at their most self-assured but in one of the breeziest and pop-leaning songs as they pair an infectious and anthemic hook with an arrangement that includes what sounds like xylophone, a mischievous and sinuous bass line, a steady backbeat, Mendoza’s gorgeous vocals along three part harmonies in English and Spanish, a rolling, African folk music-like guitar line in a song that evokes a sense of almost childlike wonder and joy, while making a connection both to Mendoza’s ancestral homeland and Africa in a way that subtly channels Paul Simon‘s Graceland.
Summer Festival Preview: Northside Festival 2016
The JOVM previews 2016’s Northside Festival, along with brief bios and music from some of the artists performing — including Brian Wilson, Kasey Musgraves, Conor Oberst, Wolf Parade, Psychic Ills, Diarrhea Planet, The Giraffes, Bambara, Blak Emoji and Boulevards.
Live Footage: Oh Pep! on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts
Comprised of Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs, Melbourne, Australia-based electro folk duo Oh, Pep! derive their name from the first names of both members of the act, and they can trace the origins of their collaboration to […]
Comprised of Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs, Melbourne, Australia-based electro folk duo Oh, Pep! can trace their origins to when the act formed while Hally and Emmerichs were students at a music secondary school. And since 2012, the duo have quickly amassed a tremendous amount of commercial and critical success at a relatively young age — the duo have released three EPs that have received both national and international attention, including a huge CMJ last year in which KCRW, NPR‘s Bob Boilen breathlessly praised them, a NPR Tiny Desk Concert appearance and a Nashville’s AMA’s Pop Matters appearance, as well as appearances at The Woodford Folk Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival, The National Folk Festival in Canberra, and Folk Alliance International, Kansas City. Adding to the duo’s growing national and international profile, they’ve won the Young Folk Performer of the Year and were nominated in the Best Folk Roots Category at 2014’s The Age Music Victoria Awards.
2016 may be the biggest year for the duo of Hally and Emmerichs will be releasing their much-anticipated full-length debut Stadium Cake on June 24, 2016 through Dualtone Records and the album which was recorded in Echo Lake, Nova Scotia last August with Canadian producer Daniel Ledwell has the duo expanding upon the songwriting approach and sound that first won them national and international attention — namely the duo’s ability to subtly mesh lightness and darkness within their material. The album’s first single “Doctor Doctor” has the band pairing stuttering cascades of synths, propulsive boom bap drums with Hally and Emmerich’s ethereal and sultry vocals singing lyrics focusing on a narrator that is suffering through self-doubt and indecision while life is rushing past them and a dysfunctional relationship that they can’t seem to get out of. Throughout the song there’s a palpable tension — the sort of tension that’s unusual for such buoyant and playful pop.
Haley and Emmerichs will be embarking on a lengthy tour throughout the Spring and Summer that’ll start off in their native Australia, a lengthy tour across the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, France and Spain and a North American tour that includes a June 29, 2016 at Mercury Lounge. Check out tour dates below.
TOUR DATES
* w/ Lake Street Dive
# w/ Basia Balut
+ w/ Lord Huron and Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Apr 6 The Jade Monkey, Adelaide, SA, Australia
Apr 8 Northcote social club, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Apr 10 The Polish Club, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Apr 13 Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane, NSW
Apr 14 No. 5 Church St, Bellingen, NSW, Australia
Apr 15 Oxford arts centre, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Apr 23 CAFE DE LA DANSE, Paris, France*
Apr 25 Komedia, Telscombe Cliffs, United Kingdom*
Apr 26 Scala, London, United Kingdom*
Apr 28 Whelans, Dublin, Ireland*
Apr 29 Landmark, Bergen, Norway#
Apr 30 Kägelbanan, Stockholm, Sweden#
May 1 Smedjan, Tollered, Sweden#
May 2 Revolver, Oslo, Norway#
May 3 Mejeriet, Lund, Sweden#
May 4 De Barras, Clonakilty, Co. Cork, Ireland
May 5 Levis, Ballydehob, Co. Cork Ireland
May 6 Ambigious Fiddle Presents: leap, Co.Cork, Ireland
May 7 Roisin Dubh, Galway, Ireland
May 8 Mullarkeys, Clifden, Co.Galway, Ireland
May 12 After Dark, Dartington Hall, Tontes, Devon, UK
May 13 Ruby lounge, Manchester, UK
May 14 The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, Scotland
May 18 The Greennote, London, UK
May 19-22 The Great Escape, Brighton, UK
May 28 Liverpool Sounds City, Liverpool, UK
Jun 2-5 Primavara, Barcelona, Spain
Jun 6 Fillmore Theatre, Philadelphia, PA+
Jun 7 Wolf Trap, Vienna, VA+
Jun 8 Red Hat Amphitheatre, Raliegh, NC+
Jun 24 The Drake, Toronto, ON, Canada
Jun 29 Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
Jul 7 Jammin Java, Vienna, VA
Jul 8 World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA
Jul 9 Green River Festival, Northampton, MA
Jul 11 Schubas, Chicago, IL
Jul 12 Cedar Cultural Centre, Minneapolis, MN
Jul 25 Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR
Jul 27 Ricksaw Stop, San Francisco, CA
Jul 28 Bootleg Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Jul 30 Casbah, San Diego, CA
Aug 1 Larimer Lounge, Denver, CO
Aug 3 The Demo, St. Louis, MO
Aug 4 High Watt, Nashville, TN
Aug 5 Evening Muse, Charlotte, NC
Aug 6 Cats Cradle, Carrboro, NC
New Video: The Gorgeous and Meditative Visuals for José González’s “With the Ink of a Ghost”
José González is a Gothenburg, Sweden-based indie folk singer/songwriter and guitarist, who quickly rose to international prominence as both a solo artist and as a member of the indie electro folk act Junip, as well […]
Live Footage: Brandi Carlile’s “The Things I Regret” Live at Red Rocks Amphitheater
Ravensdale, WA-born and Seattle, WA-based singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile can trace the origins of her music career to her childhood — when she was 8 she performed Johnny Cash‘s “Tennessee Flat Top Box” with her mother […]
Since their formation over four years ago, the Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Canadian roots trio Red Moon Road, comprised of Sheena Rattai (lead vocals, percussion, keys), Daniel Jordan (vocals, guitar, bass drum) and Daniel Péloquin-Hopfner (vocals, mandolin, banjo, guitar, lap steel, keys and delay pedals) have developed a reputation across their native Canada and elsewhere for a remarkably full sound that draws from a variety of influences including Canadiana, Manitoban country, folk music, gospel, soul, jazz, pop and Americana while pairing them with Rattai’s soulful, superstar-in-the-marking vocals, and for a live show that features each of the three multi-instrumentalists switching rapidly switching instruments throughout — with Péloquin-Hopfner known for playing banjo and organ simultaneously! (That’s something I’d love to see with my own eyes!)
As the story goes, while the Canadian roots trio was in tour in 2012, lead vocalist Sheena Rattai, broke her leg through a Frisbee-catch-gone-horribly-wrong accident that unfortunately lead to the trio being forced to cancel their tour. And as a result, Rattai spent several months recovering and writing, new material — most of which wound up comprising their latest album, Sorrows and Glories, which sees its Stateside release today. Co-produced by David Travers-Smith, a multiple Juno Award-winning, who has worked with The Wailin’ Jennys and Ruth Moody and renowned producer Murray Pulver, who has worked with Doc Walker and Steve Bell, the material on Sorrows and Glories is unsurprisingly, informed by the ups and downs of the healing experience and Canadian folklore — including a song that muses on Winnipeg’s Roslyn Square Apartment Complex, another that retells the tragic story of an 18th Century French aeronaut, as well as straightforward spirituals, while being reportedly being rooted in the sort of storytelling familiar to old school folk and country.
“I’ll Bend But I Won’t Break,” which I have the unique honor of premiering here, pairs Sheena Rattai’s soulful powerhouse vocals with upbeat and jaunty series of banjo chords, guitar played much like a bass guitar at parts, soaring organ chords and gorgeous three part harmonies at the song’s anthemic and powerfully encouraging hook in a song about resilience that’s deeply influenced by personal experience and hard-fought wisdom. As Red Moon Road’s Sheena Rattai explained to me by email, “I used to own this tiny little house in Winnipeg that I lived in all by myself. After a few years of trying to balance the upkeep of it with our rigorous touring schedule I realized that it just wasn’t working. I decided to make my best efforts toward grownup-hood and secure a tenant for the house. I got a tenant named Tom. Turns out, Tom was a terrible tenant! While this sounds like a Dr. Seuss book, it actually ended up being a horrible experience that resulted in my having to sell the house. Needless to say, I didn’t much care for Tom at the time so I wrote an angry song that lyrically has nothing to do with Tom, but emotionally, has everything to do with him. It’s some self-encouragement that people like this that bring chaos into our lives won’t break us. I love the symbolism in how a tree survives a storm; grounding yourself and digging your roots deep.”
While I have to admit that I hope that Rattai doesn’t have any more terrible Toms in her life, the song is both a reminder of the age-old adage of that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and that all things do pass in time. But it’s also an example of gifted and so rare songwriting — an earnest song that’s personable, richly visual and with an incredibly memorable hook that dozens of songwriters would kill for in any genre. And honestly, based on this trio’s sound, I’m amazed that they’re not bigger than what they are right now; but I think that will be rectified very soon.
Born and reared in the Springfield, IL area and currently splitting her time between San Francisco, CA and Big Sur, CA singer/songwriter. guitarist and producer Jenny Gillespie can trace her musical career to her childhood — during drives to and from town, a young Gillespie spent quite a bit of time harmonizing in the backseat with her sister, who is a gifted pianist. When Gillespie was 13, she picked up her mother’s Martin guitar and began putting the poems she had started writing to music. A local record clerk changed the young singer/songwriter’s life by giving her albums from three of the 90s’ most renowned singer/songwriters — Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan and Shawn Colvin.
After stints living in Virginia, Paris and Texas, Gillespie relocated to Chicago, where she self-produced and then released the folk and alt-country influenced sophomore effort Light Year to a fair amount of critical praise across the blogosphere. As a result of Light Year‘s exposure, Gillespie met Darwin Smith, an Austin, TX-based multi-instrumentalist, with whom she wrote her third full-length effort, Kindred, a sparse, experimental, electronica-based effort recorded in an old house in Wilmette, IL with contributions from Steve Moore, who has worked with Tift Merritt and Laura Veirs and Dony Wynn, who has worked with Robert Plant.
Inspired by a volunteer trip to Kenya that led her to an African fingerpicking class at the Old Town School of Folk Music and studying for an MFA in Poetry at North Carolina’s Warren Wilson College, Gillespie found her sound and songwriting approach expanding and becoming more refined. And by the fall of 2011, she traveled to NYC to record the EP Belita with Shazard Ismaily, a multi-instrumentalist who has worked with Lou Reed, Bonnie Prince Billy, and St. Vincent. Interestingly, that effort possesses elements of pop, folk music, African and Asian rhythms and tones.
Featuring contributions from Emmett Kelly (Bonnie Prince Billy) on guitar and Joe Adamik (Califone, Iron and Wine) on drums, her last full-length effort Chamma was released to critical praise, including landing on Billboard Magazine‘s Top 25 Albums of 2014 List. Naturally, that has seen Gillespie’s profile grow nationally — and continuing on that buzz, the singer/songwriter is set to release Chamma‘s follow-up, Cure for Dreaming early next year through Narooma Records. Recorded over the past couple of months and featuring contributions from Paul Bryan (Aimee Mann), drummer Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant and Allison Krauss’ Raising Sand), guitarist Chris Bruce (Meshell Ndgeocello), guitarist Gerry Leonard (David Bowie), and pedal steel player Greg Leisz (Lucinda Williams, Bon Iver), the album reportedly possesses elements of folk, progressive jazz, and 60s and 70s AM pop.
“No Stone” Cure for Dreaming‘s first single pairs Gillespie’s husky and unhurried vocals with a spacious yet warm and subtly jazz-like arrangement of keys, guitar, bass, gently buzzing electronics and hushed drumming in a song that feels as intimate as a lover whispering sweet nothings in your ear. And at its core, is conversational lyricism that possesses a novelist’s attention to detail, as you can picture the woman who hides her face by the ocean, the cherry blossom trees in bloom, someone peering through a keyhole to see a depressed woman struggling to just starting her day — and a novelist’s attention to psychological detail. The song’s narrator feels like a fully-fleshed out person, desperately struggling to push on. Interestingly, each time I’ve played the song I’ve been reminded of how Gillespie sounds so much like Joni Mitchell — it’s incredibly uncanny.
New Audio: Alela Diane and Ryan Francesconi’s Gorgeous Duet “The Sun Today”
Currently based in Portland, OR and originally from Nevada City, CA, Alela Diane is critically acclaimed singer/songwriter who has previously released four albums — 2007’s The Pirate’s Gospel, 2009’s To Be Still, 2011’s Wild Divine and […]